//------------------------------// // Guard Training // Story: Night Wing // by Gravity012 //------------------------------// Silver Wing I sat down in the new bar and ordered a hard cider. Some drink the ponies made with apples. Of course it was a big hit with us since we loved fruit. The bar had been constructed pretty soon after the ponies all settled down. After all, you can’t have a happy town without a bar right? It was a log cabin like building, with high ceilings and a second floor. The second floor was left open in the center, so you could look down to the first floor. At the main bar, the bar tender was busily serving drinks to ponies. Of course, most of the ponies left when I sat down. Only a few remained. “Hey Silver!” Moon beam, another Thestral, shouted to me. “What’s up!?” She came and sat to my right, also ordering a hard cider. “Oh nothing. Just trying to straighten out my neck from our new ‘captain’” I replied. We thestrals were more militaristic than the ponies of the day. Thus, having the buffoon Nightwing as my captain.....it was very irritating. “Oh give him a break!” Lunar Lotus sat on the other side of me. “He did help fight the shadow. And he did a lot of damage to it if the story you told us is true.” Lotus also ordered a hard cider. It was quite popular among us thestrals. I took a sip of my drink before replying. “Be that as it may, he doesn’t act like a captain should. He has no experience, and he demands no respect. All he does is-“ I shivered for a second. “.....I don’t want to talk about it.” I took a deep gulp of my drink. “It’s not that baaad!” Moon said from my right. “You’re just a stick in the mud some times.” She took a sip from her mug. “Besides, if what that Starswirl pony told us is true, he has no combat experience. Which means he did really good with the shadow.” She looked into her mug for a second before smirking at me. “Remind you of anyone else? Hmm?” She downed the rest of her drink and got up from her seat. “Think about when you were young Silver. You were almost the exact same.” With that she walked out the front door just as Black Iron walked in. They exchanged a quick greeting before Moon left and Black walked over. His name was very fitting, as his mane was a pitch black color. “By the expression on your face I assume your talking about our new captain?” Black asked as he took Moon’s spot. He to ordered a hard cider. He took a drink then burped before saying anything else. “He has potential you know. Reminds me of you before you were trained. Taking on a couple bandits in the woods is no easy feat for an untrained filly.” He drank some more as I stared into my mostly untouched drink. He was right of course. Night did show potential. But he had no training. “Well, her majesty did choose him to be the leader.” Lotus paused from guzzling her third mug. “Not much we can do about it.” I sighed. She was right. “There’s only one thing to do then.” I downed the rest of my drink in one gulp. Hoping it would lessen the sting of what I was about to say. “We’ll just have to train him.” “Keeear!!” Night shouted as I struck him on the head. “Then dodge the stick!” I yelled at him. “It’s simple! Don’t get hit and it won’t hurt!” I swung the sword shaped stick at him some more as he futilely attempted to block with his wooden wing coverings. “You can’t be a captain of anything if you fight like that!” I yelled at him again. I was pushing him in a circle around the training area. It was located inside the inner wall of the castle. It was mostly used by the Solar Guards, but that was no surprise since not many ponies wanted to guard with Thestrals. There were a few, but the Lunar Guard’s numbers were much lower than the Solar Guard’s. “You can do it Night!” Shouted Moon from the edge of the circle. “Just stop being bad and you’ll be fine!!” Very helpful. “Keeeear!” Night cried and went on the offensive. Or he tried to anyways. He lunged at me with his wing covers....and I side stepped and hit him on the head. I stopped and sighed. “We have so far to go.” I moaned as Night stood up and started spitting dirt. One Month Later Nightwing “Keeear!” I screeched at Silver. “Then dodge the darn stick!!!” Silver yelled at me. We were in the same circle we had trained in every. Single. Day. For a month! Now our training was a favorite pass time for many of the guards on their off shifts. Even Starswirl was smirking at me from the sidelines. I suspected he just enjoyed seeing me get hit with a stick. To be honest I was doing better. I wasn’t nearly as good as the Thestrals, but I was improving. Not every swing hit me now and I even got close to hitting Silver! I was better against the other Thestrals, but I suspected Silver had a bit more training. She swung at me again and I managed to actually block it for once. “Good job! You finally blocked one!” She then followed up this praise with a jab to my neck. I jumped back out of the way before lunging forward to hit her. I swung at her shoulder but she dodged out of the way easily. Then she opened her own wings and flipped over me before smacking me in the back of the head. Once again sending me into the dirt. I hate this so much...... Two Months Later I dodged out of the way of Silver’s swing and swatted it into the ground with my wing. She quickly pulled her sword back to block my wing covers from hitting her. Hers ears pinned down on her head as she pushed me back before take a swing at my head. I swiftly ducked under the swin to return a swipe at her. “Your getting much better!” She stated. “But-” She ducked under my swing and jabbed the underside of my wing with here sword. “-you have yet-“ she swung again at me as I drew back. Ouch! The blow to my wing hurt very bad, yet I continued fighting. I pushed her back towards the circle edge as I went on the offensive. Right before she stepped out of the circle she tried to press me back. Only for me to get a wing in and hit her across the head. “-to defeat me.” She finished as she lay on the ground exhausted. Then she started to laugh. “Finally! It took you long enough to throw me into the dirt! Three whole months and you’ve finally managed to hit me!” She laughed some more as she shakily stood up. “I have to say, you have a mean right wing.” She winced as she held her head. “Okay, we’re done for today.” “Chirp?” I asked her. “I’ll be fine!” She waved me off. “Woohoo! Night!” Moon shouted from the side. A few of the other guards were cheering as well. “About time you beat her into the ground!” Swirl walked up to me laughing. “Seeing you get hit with a stick was almost getting old!” He stopped to think for a moment. “Never mind. That will never get old.” He walked off into the castle cackling like a mad man. “Come on. Drinks on me.” Silver announced Silver led me, Black, Moon, And Lotus to the bar. We all sat at the main bar and ordered hard ciders. To be honest I had never drank a lot of alcohol, so the strong smelling drink made me slightly nervous. “Come on! It won’t Bite!” Black stated before taking a large gulp of his drink. His slammed his mug down and belched. “Not much anyways.” “You look like your scared of a little alcohol. Could the mighty Nightwing really be worried over such a thing?” Lotus asked me smugly. I just gave her a blank stare. “Oh lighten up Night! We’re just teasing!” Moon said before taking a swig of drink. “Not like anything could go wrong.” I looked nervously a my drink before levitating it to may beak. “Did you seriously just say that Moon?” Black asked. “Now I’m worried something will happen.” He laughed. I just looked at them all before giving up. Whats the wors- Nope! Not finishing that sentence! Never! I promptly threw the mug back and downed it all in one go. WHYYYYYYYY!?!? I screamed in my head as I woke up in my bed. The sun was so bright! Aaaarg!! DIIIIIIIIIE!!! I shrieked internally at the sun.